Starting a New Job Strong

Tips for Succeeding During the First 90 Days in a New Job at a New Company

Congratulations, you have a signed offer letter for a new job at a new company! Now what? You’ll likely be asking yourself the following questions:

How can I set myself up for success?

How can I make a strong, lasting impression?

How can I leverage my expertise in new settings?

Reflect on what made you successful at your last company, then set clear intentions:

Start strong.

Be open. Listen and learn.

Rely on experience and knowledge.

Trust that ideas will come.

Remember to ask for help.

Do not repeat old mistakes.

I was in this place four months ago after I left a company I spent 22 years with. My transition felt almost overwhelming. My new role was in a new industry with a five-year-old company that was entrepreneurial, dynamic and fast. But, I was determined to be successful and decided to create a plan. As a life-long student, I turned to books and articles, researched, looked for common themes, and developed a four-step process.

Self-assessment. Be honest with yourself. What really made you successful? What were your blockers? Can you find patterns in your behaviors, performance reviews, and feedback you received?

Create your 30-60-90 plan. Your plan must be flexible, and you must adapt to your new environment where the language and rules for decision making and information sharing are likely to be different from what you are accustomed to. You may be wondering how you can develop three months of goals and tactics without knowing the company, players, and culture beyond what you know from interviews and your research. Remember that your plan will evolve, and it is one way to learn how to partner with your boss, get input, and respond.

Kick off your plan early! Review your draft plan with your new boss before your first day! If scheduling is challenging, don’t let that stop you! During your “down time,” you have “mind space” and can really absorb without being distracted by the day-to-day meetings and on-the-job demands

Involve your manager. During your first three months on your new job, use the plan as a set of informal goals. Dedicate time to get feedback from your manager on your observations and to align on priorities. This will help you establish a strong relationship and guide your performance to exceed expectations.

Create a 30-60-90 day plan before day one and use it as a guide to get started. The more you prepare, the more relaxed, connected, and confident you will be!

Month 1 – Learn, Start to Understand

Gather and absorb information from key stakeholders.

Create an “interview” or “meet and greet” guide to ensure that you collect helpful information consistently.

Learn about your team’s capabilities, strengths, and opportunities. Your team has operated without you. Where do they need you most? Do they need to make shifts in their processes or how they spend time now that you have joined?

Dive into the business. Learn the KPIs, metrics, reporting cadence, language, and acronyms.

Recruit a work “buddy” to shadow. This person should be a peer.

Month 2 – Start to Assess and Continue Gathering Insights

Assess the team, key processes, and goals. Start to rank opportunities in order of priority.

Continue meet and greets. Start to tease out key themes. Adjust your interview guide to clarify what you are learning.

Schedule meetings with third-party vendors if you have them. Understand how they were selected and your team’s assessment of their performance.

Ask your manager for a mentor or identify one through your meet and greet interviews. Ideally, your mentor should be someone one level above you who can talk with you in confidence and commit to an hour quarterly.

Identify your “first win” or success from your prioritized list of initiatives. This win can be as small as developing a new format for comprehensive business review or clarifying a process for the cross-functional team. Stay away from large decisions like re-organizations or capital expenditures. This win helps to build your story of success and will be important for you and your team as well as your new manager.

Draft year-end goals. Review with your manager. Once you have alignment, roll them out to your team. Their goals should reflect your priorities for them and the business. Be sure to include one development goal and three to five business goals.

By now, you should have a general understanding of the company’s operating system: how decisions are made, meeting preparation, communication mode (email, text, app, or in-person), processes, and rewards. Think about areas where you need clarity. Focus on those as you continue meeting people. Do not be shy about asking for help and information!

The List of Stakeholders for “Meet and Greets”

One of the most important aspects of succeeding a new job is setting up Meets an Greets with key stakeholders. So, you might be wondering how to choose your stakeholders. Start with your immediate manager. Ask for input as you hold stakeholder interviews. To get started:

Your team if you manage others

Your manager’s other direct reports

Cross-functional partners

Include people at your level, above and below

The Stakeholder Interview, aka: Meet and Greet Guide

Prepare a simple guide. Your first objective is to establish relationships based on authentic communication and trust. Be open, be yourself. Stakeholder interviews help transition you from candidate to co-worker/employee. Your second objective is to learn about the company culture, processes, and systems. You will be looking for common themes. These themes will help you develop priorities as you transition from “just started, where’s the printer?” to creating value.

Make your interview guide your own based on your new role and company. Here are seven thought-starters and questions I used.

What do you love about working here? Why?

Can you tell me about how things work here?

How are decisions made? Do we rely more on data or intuition?

What do successful people here share in common?

Can you tell me about our customers/clients? What do they care most about?

Can you tell me about our key competitors?

What opportunities do we have for growth?

What advice do you have for me?

Do you have any questions for me?

Starting a new role is a time of transitions. Transitions take a lot of energy and can be stressful. Using a conscious approach to and managing your on-boarding can relieve the pressure many of us feel to “hit the ground running.” Negotiate a few weeks (or more) in between your roles if you can. Use that time to reset and re-energize. Also, use that space to get yourself ready for your new opportunity by starting early. You will enjoy the journey, and you will look forward to your return to work in your new role. On your first day, you won’t be the new hire trying to figure out which meetings to attend! You will already be adding value!

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